November 2017 | Craftsman’s Cribsheet #60
Decarburization on surface layers can affect heat treatment and hardness attained on parts. Decarburization also provides evidence of where in a process a defect or imperfection occurred.
Month: November 2017
OSHA has issued a final rule to delay the electronic reporting compliance date of the Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses rule from July 1, 2017 (actually it was December 1, 2017) to December 15, 2017. The reason given is to provide employers the same four month window for submitting data that the original rule would have provided.
The actual deadline had been December 1, 2017 to report 2016 OSHA 300A data for employers in manufacturing industries with 20-250 employees in most states. Employers in state plan states- California, Maryland, Minnesota, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming were not required to comply
Here is the link to today’s OSHA News Release.
According to the agency “OSHA is currently reviewing the other provisions of its final rule to Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, and intends to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking to reconsider, revise, or remove portions of that rule in 2018.”
We have been following this rule since we testified against it back in 2014.
We have posted on this from time to time
OSHA Mandatory Reporting Delayed
OSHA Clarifies Reporting Rule
Department of Shaming?
PMPA gave our members a step by step guide to how to report earlier this week.
The final rule will be published in the Federal Register on Friday, November 24, 2017. Here is the public inspection version
You don’t need a degree in Organic Chemistry to understand the differences in your shops’ metalcutting fluid base oils and what they mean to you.
A recent discussion on PMPA’s member’s only Technical Listserve centered around the issue of foaming in our machines and its relation to the type of cutting oil selected for use in our CNC and Swiss machines.
John Wiley, Business Development Manager for PMPA Technical Member Qualichem, Inc. contributed a nice piece of sensemaking regarding the role that the selection of base oil plays in the foaming we encounter on the machine.
“In this picture you can clearly see the differences in a base oil’s tendency to foam. These are pure base oils, nothing added. Poly Alpha Olefin (PAO) and Gas To Liquid (GTL) synthetics are identical, while the two mineral oils foam considerably more than the synthetic stocks. If you are a shop that has yet to experiment with new cutting oil technology, now is the time. The benefits are firmly within your budgets. If you are doing medical work, the GTL oils are ideal. If you are running lights out operations, the GTL are ideal. If you want a cleaner shop, cleaner machines and cleaner parts, GTL is ideal.”
John went on to describe the scenarios where PAO’s and GTL’s would be expected to be the best choice for certain operations (like high pressure pumps) and applications, as well as compared the economics of PAO’s and GTL’s. Our members got actionable insight as to the effects of the base oil in their metalcutting fluids in terms of both performance and economics.
You may not know a lot about Organic Chemistry, but the photo above is worth a semester in class (as well as a thousand words!) to show us why now is the time to consider Synthetic base oils in our CNC and High Pressure coolant metalcutting operations.
Qualichem,Inc.
You may be surprised that Technology as a stand alone item is not one of them.
Our future is not about shinier flying saucers.
We will master and implement whatever technologies are developed.
But our future is being impacted by these 7 items today:
- Loss of experienced workers taking tribal and craftsman knowledge out of our shops.
- Lower average wages as experienced workers with seniority leave and younger workers start at trainee wages, making it difficult to attract talent with facts about “increasing wages”- even though they are.
- Training growing in percent of spend as many shops are unable to purchase new technology to quote new work because they do not have trained workforce.
- More and more jobs being quoted out of more challenging, non free machining materials;
- A bit of relief from new regulations, but more uncertainty as Washington turns to trade issues which can impact availability and cost of imported materials, and tooling, as well as impact the exports of finished goods that contain our parts.
- Increasing demands for certification of production to a wide variety of customer demanded requirements regardless of legal obligations- Conflict Minerals, REACH, RoHS, Animal- Free; Ca. Prop 65. Etc.
- Possibility of an “Association Healthcare Insurance solution” in 2019 or beyond.
What do you see as the trends shaping our company and industry future?
Please don’t say technology- as Humans, we’ve been successfully implementing new technologies for quite some time.
Flying cars
Todd Rundgren Future
Fire
“The October PMI® registered 58.7 percent, a decrease of 2.1 percentage points from the September reading of 60.8 percent. Indicators showing expansion included new orders, production, employment, order backlogs and export orders all continuing to grow in October, supplier deliveries continuing to slow (improving) and inventories contracting during the period.”- Timothy R. Fiore, CPSM, C.P.M., Chair of the Institute for Supply Management® (ISM®) Manufacturing Business Survey Committee
The industries that our precision machining shops serve or rely on for supplies were up in October, including: Machinery; Transportation Equipment; Food, Beverage & Tobacco Products; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Petroleum & Coal Products; Plastics & Rubber Products; Computer & Electronic Products; Fabricated Metal Products; Furniture & Related Products; Electrical Equipment, Appliances & Components; and Primary Metals.
While other commentators will focus on the 2.1 point drop in the PMI from September to October, we believe that this is still a very positive report that shows the ongoing strength of the manufacturing sector.
ISM Report for October
Calculated Risk Blog
Glass Half Full
Published November 2017
By Scott Wiltsie
We are all definitely faced with a challenge regarding today’s new workforce. One thing is for sure, the same old practices, operations, expectations and training systems just won’t cut it when it comes to attracting, developing and retaining younger talent for our shops.
Published November 2017
By PMPA Staff
In 1967, Milton E. Harris, owner of J. Harris and Sons, was approached by a salesman from a small steel products shop outside of Orangeville, Ontario, Canada, who convinced Mr. Harris to buy the company and adopt its name, Laurel Steel Products.
Published November 2017
By Monte Guitar
PMPA member value can be broken down into four core buckets: benchmarking, networking, savings and training.